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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Pigeon peas and cucumbers

There is lots of color out in the veggie patch. The pigeon pea are flowering - they start off red and then open up to yellow.

Aren't they pretty close up?

These have taken a while to form beans, but in the meantime they have acted as a support for the winged beans, and of course they are nitrogen fixing plants, so are continually harnessing and trapping nitrogen for the other plants to use. You can see a fuzzy bean just beginning to form. I have not been so keen on the taste so use them mainly for amending the soil.The cucumbers are also twirling up into this bush - it seems to be a great year for cucumbers. The flesh of the cucumbers is green and they are soooo crunchy. My little two year old grand daughter loves them - it made my heart soar to pick a cucumber and then watch her eat the whole thing - not wanting to share! I planted a few more seeds a couple of weeks ago as the lower part of the vines is already dying off.
I am also picking snow peas, and the cherry tomatoes should start ripening soon - we have some green ones on the bushes.
This year the tomatoes are slow to ripen, and I have lost a few bushes to wilt, the older gardeners in this area say it is only worth growing the cherry tomatoes - guess I should listen to the old timers. Even in a pot with sterile coir they don't thrive. I have cabbage tokyo bekana, Kailaan and bok choy and have had a few stir fries of all those leaves mixed up with onion and garlic. Very tasty!
The zucchini did not do too well- it often does not in this tropical climate. It got downy mildew and then every zucchini that formed got slimy, so out both plants came - and they left a little space :) I had a few tiny red lettuce seedlings I had started from seed, so in they went - nicely tucked in with some new sugar cane mulch. I am sowing lettuce seeds more often and then picking off the leaves as soon as they are big enough to eat. Lovely flavor and they don't tend to bolt if picked early and often.
The first crop of carrots was sown in March, so 70 days is just about now, I don't normally think about how long veggies take to mature, but with trialling these seeds I have tried to be a little more attentive. I picked a few, and yes they are purple, but are still quite tiny. I think most of my veggies seem a little slower than they state on the pkg - has anyone else noticed this? I am thinking harvest date might be a good date to add to my little marking sticks.
I also built a little teepee so that I could plant more snow peas, they are my favourite vegetable, and I want a continuous crop, since it is a short season.
I have lots of variety this year, and in part this is due to the lovely seeds that I got from MrFothergills - I heard they are getting ready to send me more - great! I feel this year I am actually beginning to get more of a feel for what to grow and how much. I have a little extra to share with neighbours, and with continuous sowing and a large variety I am able to add something homegrown to most meals. I want to make sure to save some heirloom seeds that have adapted to my particular little micro-climate.
I feel that at last I am developing favorites, and some sort of system.
1. Plant seeds direct where they are to grow.
2. Continuous sowing.
3. Try small amounts of different variety.
4. If there is an empty area, stick some seeds in there!
5. Mulch well with sugar cane mulch.
Do you feel that the more you garden in your particular area the more comfortable you become with what you are growing? Do you branch out and try something new each year?

15 comments:

Your vegie garden is doing well. You've got a great variety. Snow peas are my favourite as well. I probably need to do more continuous sowing. I seem to have feast or famine at times. We've had so much rain and so little sunshine lately that some plants are suffering and some are doing very well.

my pigeon peas are also flowering and I think they are lovely. I have some near the garden that the chooks love to sit under and some down by the creek where I am also going to put winged beans. Such useful plants and so easy to grow.

I agree about the cherry tomatoes. Mine are growing wild and healthy and are all self seeded. We get lots to put into salads and I don't actually look after them, my favourite type of plant :)

We have pigeon peas too, very suited to our dry climate, however the pods are infested with insects. Our variety is different from yours, as the flowers dont have that pink color. I already forgot how pigeon pea tastes like.

Masz sporo warzyw, a że nie zawsze wszystko rośnie jak by się chciało, to problem. Ja nie mam warzyw w swoim malutkim ogródku i nie przeżywam takich problemów. Pozdrawiam.You have a lot of vegetables, and that things do not always grow as I had hoped, it is a problem. I do not have vegetables in her little garden, and not experiencing such problems. Yours.

Sounds like you have a nice garden going:) Bok choy is my absolute favorite:) We were having problems with tomatoes this year as well. They were green and splitting before ripening. Sounds like you'll have a good harvest though:)

The light is so bright in your garden! Its great to read what you are doing and what does and doesn't work in the tropics. I cannot imagine gardening in that heat. I guess that's why I moved to Tasmania! People either love it hot or prefer the cool-cold. One day I'd like to visit your garden though, Jillian.

Kate, funny that you commented on the bright light - I had to scroll back and have another look :) Oh I don't think I would like gardening in the cold - you better visit in our so called winter then :)

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Quotes I enjoy

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables, they probably get jet-lagged, just like people do - Elizabeth Berry

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7

The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more,

but in developing the capacity to enjoy less

- paraphrased from Socrates quote

“See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa

Nature in all its diversity grants us a glimpse into the heart of God the Father which is nothing but Love.

It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you seeHendry David Thoreau

Making a garden is not a gentle hobby for the elderly,to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole, and once it has done so he will have to acceptthat his life is going to be radically changed. May SartonPlant Dreaming Deep, 1983

When the trees sing,It doesn't really matterIf you know the song, Or if you know the words,Or even if you know the tune.What really matters is knowing ....That the trees are singing at all.Mattie Stepanek, 1990-2004

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walkor an evening saunter;to be thrilled by the stars at night:to be elated over a bird's nestor a wildflower in spring... these are some of the rewards of the simple life.John Burroughs, 1837-1921

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder…”– Thoreau

“Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” ~ Charles M. Schulz

You who walkmaybe with troubled thoughts....Come, enter here and restand may the sweet serenityof growing things....and the heavenly peacebe mirrored in thy soul.by Michael Palmer

Gods GardenThe Lord God planted a gardenIn the first white days of the world,And he set there an angel wardenIn a garment of light enfurled.So near to the peace of HeavenThat the hawk might nest with the wren,For there in the cool of the evenGod walked with the first of men.And I dream that these garden closesWith their shade and their sun-flecked sodAnd their lilies and bowers of roses,Were laid by the hand of God.The kiss of the sun for pardon,The song of the birds for mirth, -One is nearer God’s heart in a gardenThan anywhere else on earth.For He broke it for us in a gardenUnder the olive-treesWhere the angel of strength was the wardenAnd the soul of the world found ease.Dorothy Francis Gurney

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.Mary Jean Iron

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.Albert Einstein

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."~ John Lubbock******************************************************